Chris King, the man who founded one of the world’s leading bike companies back in 1976, has always been a gourmet. I can recall, as an employee of Chris King Precision Components back in the late 1990s, prepping food for one of King’s “Trail Daze” events in Santa Barbara. On the menu for the mountain bike trail volunteers that day were roasted red pepper sandwiches. As King blackened the peppers in his personal, professional-grade range, myself and several other volunteers were tasked with peeling away the blackened parts and artfully laying the peppers onto artisan rolls as King peered over our shoulders doing quality control.

All the prep was done with an attention to detail and eye for quality that seemed over-the-top for some trailside grub. But to Chris King, food is deserving of the same respect and exacting treatment he gives his eponymous bicycle components.(more…)